Pundits: White should pound the budget, ethics. Perry should hide.

Peggy Fikac: Some advice to the top candidates in the campaign's last week; higher ed commissioner says tough budget times means change is important

Published 9:44 am, Sunday, October 24, 2010

AUSTIN - With the finish line in sight, what must Democratic challenger Bill White do to muster a come-from-behind victory? And what should GOP Gov. Rick Perry do to stay ahead? I asked three political experts for their best three bits of advice. Here are excerpts:

^SMU political scientist Cal Jillson

For White: "1. Keep pounding hard on (Perry) being too close to the lobby and to his contributors. 2. Work the theme that Perry has been governor too long, and you see that in an arrogance and sense of entitlement. 3. Hunt where the ducks are. Hit the urban areas and the Valley just as hard as you can."

For White: "1. Lay out a plan for dealing with the shortfall, and make the budget shortfall the only issue that he talks about. 2. Quit being so serious. 3. Spend more time doing town-hall type meetings, especially in the secondary markets - Tyler, Longview, Amarillo, San Angelo getting out and asking people what they want. Listening to them rather than lecturing to them."

^Jason Stanford, who worked for Democrat Chris Bell in the 2006 campaign against Perry

For White: "1. Bill White needs to pick a fight that Rick Perry responds to irrationally. He needs to dramatically lower the tenor of this campaign and sacrifice his considerable dignity upon the altar of winning. 2. His corruption thing needs to be summed up. People now are dismissing these things saying, 'Oh, well, it wasn't actually a crime.' That's the whole damn problem in Texas.3. (White's message should be that)It's not just Bill White would be a better manager. It's how is Bill White going to change the world?"

For Perry: "1. Sit down. 2. Shut up. 3. Stop smirking."

Some want to hunker down as Texas faces a massive budget shortfall. Not Texas Commissioner of Education Raymund Paredes, who's been talking up a proposal to change university funding: "We need to fund institutions on the basis of performance, instead of simple enrollment."

Performance means improving the number of graduates, including at-risk graduates, and the number "in areas that are critical to the economic development of Texas, like science and computing and engineering."

"I would argue that this is the best time to do it," Paredes said, "because we have to make sure that whatever cuts institutions have to absorb, that the area that they will focus most on preserving are those areas that produce strong student outcomes." The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is due to formally vote Thursday on the legislative recommendation.